Additional API functionality

Channels DVR Server Feature Requests
#1

To frame this request.... I'll take you back to 2000 I got my first Tivo and I started with the hacks right away. I was able to have my land-line caller ID display on the screen so that you could decide whether to get up and answer the phone. Amazing right? Lol, it was cool becuase it Integrated more than just tv watching with the dvr.

Well I'm doing a lot with blue iris now, and I setup alerts that send an analyzed image to telegram via api. Everytime there is a confirmed alert, I get a picture message. That got me to thinking. Wouldnt it be great if I could also have blue iris send an api command to channels to tune to a specific camera via custom channels. Going a bit further, it could pop up a "Continue watching" type message on the screen that i could choose to click on that would tune the camera channel. Bascially I would send the text I wanted displayed and the channel number I want to offer the viewer via an api string.

I know what I am proposing sounds real easy and I'm sure that it is more complex than i imagine but I thought I would share it anyway :blush:

#2

You can already do this:

#3

Awesome thanks. The only thing that would be missing would be to give the viewer a choice to tune the channel. Might get annoying to have the channel change repeatedly for false positives

#4

Interactions like that are not possible. (At least, not within the app. You could create your own middleware to prompt the user on their phone, by querying the clients to see if it is currently playing something, and offer a prompt. You may want to look at Home Assistant or similar to facilitate something like that.)

#5

Ahh I got it. I use habridge with harmony to trigger stuff like the zwave switch on my fireplace. I could assign a button to a curl command to change the channel and let the user decide based on the automated message to the viewer. "motion at doorbell, press x to view"

#6

It is possible to do this with AppleTV once a camera is triggered a notification with the video will appear in the upper right of your screen. You need Home Assistant. This way it works no matter what app you are watching at the time. I plan to do this myself when I get a little time.

#7

This is a feature of HomeKit, and Home Assistant is not necessary. (I do the same using Homebridge with Homebridge UniFi Protect; I get PiP popup on the TV when the doorbell gets pressed.)

2 Likes
#8

Yeah, makes sense. The Home Assistant route is simpler for me because I already use it. Not surprising that there's more than one way to accomplish this. Either way, a system-wide approach seems to make more sense than something that will only work in Channels.